Nominate a BOOK APP for the Cybils Award TODAY!

Last year, the Cybils Awards launched the first BOOK APP AWARD for children and young adults. The Cybils Awards are given each year by bloggers for the year's best children's and young adult titles. Anyone can nominate a book between October 1st and October 15th. That means you have one more week to nominate your favorite book app that was published last year.

Head here to nominate a book for the Cybils Award!

Findability is a huge problem when it comes to book apps. What are the most recent apps published? What will appeal to my children? I often turn to the Kirkus Reviews site to explore their in-depth reviews of book apps. Here are some book apps that they have recommended this year. I have not read all of these apps, but I have read enough of Kirkus Reviews' recommendations to know they are worth exploring.

Check out these other wish lists from great bloggers and judges for the Cybils Book App Awards:

• PinkMe's Electronic Thursday - Paula focuses specifically on some fascinating nonfiction book apps. My students are still fascinated by last year's finalist Bobo Explores Light, and so we will definitely be checking some of these out.
• Masala Readers Cybils Wishlist - Lalitha has some great apps to recommend, with a focus on picture book apps ranging from sweet ones like Leah and the Owl to the funny The House that Went on Strike.

Here are some apps I'm investigating from Kirkus reviews. All quotes and links are from the Kirkus Reviews site.

• 
  Franklin Frog, from the "Round" series, published by Nosy Crow. "This first installment in Nosy Crow’s new Rounds series of biology apps for preschoolers is actually a hybrid of sorts. The story offers plenty of frog facts... but there’s also fictional banter that gives the frogs a bit of character."
  
• 
  The Voyage of Ulysses, developed by Elastico SRL. "This slimmed, prose version of Homer’s epic can be read aloud by a lilting narrator, or it can be read silently. All of the characters Ulysses meets on his long journey home are here...with a suitable amount of smoothly written text material to flesh out their backgrounds and roles."
• 
  Dragon Brush, by Andy Hulling, developed by Small Planet Digital. "The story of a magical dragon brush that can bring painted objects to life casts its own spell. Bing-Wen, a slender rabbit from a poor family, loves to paint. His luck turns when he helps an old woman with an overturned cart and is awarded a paintbrush made from the whiskers of a dragon."
• 
  B.B. Wolf, by Debbie Fong. "A revised 'Little Red Riding Hood,' with unusually simple and effective illustrations and interactive features. Fong suspends small figures drawn in thin, scribbly lines... creating narrative movement for her retelling with one or two discreet spiral buttons in each scene."
• 
  Leonard, by Ink Robin. "A move from the city to the country leaves Leonard... (asking): Where are all the new friends? As readers join him in his search, Leonard’s imagination takes off full force, taking him into the jungle and soaring into outer space." (my review here)
• 
  The Artifacts, by Lynley Stace, developed by Slap Happy Larry. "This beautiful, resonant story about the way we leave behind childish things (but never really abandon them) delivers a specific, potent experience unusual even for the best iPad apps." (highly recommended by Cybils panelist Carisa Kluver - see her review here)

Please take the time to nominate a book app for the Cybils Awards. All nominations from the public must be received by October 15th!

©2012 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books